For some reason, my princess can’t get herself to sleep at night.  Honestly the first night she was born, she was up literally all night long.  Daddy was a musician then and when he walked into the house and saw me sitting on the couch at probably 3 or 4 a.m. and princess had her big beautiful eyes wide open it should have told us something.

Now it seems she’s having the same problem. Last night it was past 11:30 p.m. and still she couldn’t close those big beautiful eyes.  It frustrates her to no end.  She cries and tells me she just can’t sleep.  I don’t know how to help her. I sit with, sleep next to her, rock her in my arms and still she can’t sleep even if she wants to.

We read nightly and she’s off to bed at 8:30.  We’ve tried earlier but it still happens.  She doesn’t fuss much in the morning either when it’s time to get up.  She’s up and ready usually before I can even get Bug out of bed.  I know she needs sleep.  Did you ever have this problem with your little ones?

Giving her medication or anything like that is not an option.  Perhaps something warm before bed would help.  Yes it is frustrating for us as parents too but I hate how it makes her cry at night because she just can’t sleep. I’ve never had insomnia so I can’t say I know how she feels but I can see it in her eyes. Those big beautiful eyes that sometimes she just doesn’t know what else to do.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

I was going to write about something but unfortunately I can’t think of what it was.  All that is on my mind right now is this horrible pain in my back.  I don’t even know what I did to it.

Not only does this make me feel totally OLD which I guess I have to start admitting that I am but I feel so helpless.  I have clothes wrinkling in the dryer, socks on the living room floor (my kids sort them into piles for me to put together and then they put them away). I can’t make my family dinner or give my kids their baths or even tuck them in bed tonight. Heck, I can’t even walk to the bathroom by myself. This is so frustrating.

My mom and best friend offered some advice and I’m trying to relieve the pain but so far nothing but pain and that’s all my brain can think of. Sorry wish I had something better to share with you.  Hopefully this will go away quickly and I can get back to my routine and hopefully have some fun with my kiddos while they are on spring break this week.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

With my first child, I, like so many new parents probably didn’t know what questions to ask the pediatrician.

This is where I feel my child fell through the cracks.  You see my son wasn’t diagnosed with Autism until he was almost six years old, beyond the “early intervention” age.

It makes me mad that he wasn’t diagnosed earlier for many reasons. I’ve been frustrated at the doctors who saw him and didn’t catch it but I’ve also been mad at myself for not asking the right questions, not knowing what to look for.

With my second child, at one of her well-child visits the doctor had her demonstrate various tasks.  This surprised me alot as no one had done this with my first.

She was asked to jump up and down, jump from one tile to the next, walk a few steps, etc. to show the doctor her gross motor skills. She was asked to copy a smilie face the doctor had drawn on a piece of paper so the doctor could see her fine motor skills and ability to hold objects within her fingers.

Why was this never done for my son? No one ever asked him to perform any task like this including me.

In order to ask the right questions, we need to know where our child should be and at what age they should reach these goals and not just the typical goals that get asked about such as first time they stood up, or ate baby food or waved bye-bye or first word.  We have to look beyond that and make sure your pediatrican looks beyond those typical questions into these developmental areas as well:

Social/emotional
Speech and language
Cognitive/General knowledge
Gross Motor
Fine Motor
Self-Help skills

Sometimes we are so wrapped up in the usual big milestones like first tooth, first word or first steps that we tend to overlook other milestones that we need be aware of as well. And take note of each of these. I know that’s a lot to ask while your hands are full with caring for your baby but after doctor vists after doctor visit you get asked those same questions over and over and over again, it’s wonderful to be able to provide as full a picture of your child’s development as you can.

Had I know what to look for earlier, I would have known before age five and a half how my son was struggling and why.

© 2012, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Head lice isn’t the greatest topic but it is something that just seems to be inevitable as a parent with elementary school aged children.  There is a lot of misleading information out there about head lice and so I’d like to share with you some facts.

1.  Head lice do not discriminate.  No matter what your financial status is or what your race is your child/you can get head lice.

2.  Getting head lice is not related to poor hygiene.

3.  Head lice do no transmit disease.

4.  Head lice only feed on human blood therefore, they do not come from animals or pets.

5.  Head lice are usually transmitted by head to head contact.

6.  An itchy scalp is usually the first indicator of an infestation which is an allergic reaction to the saliva of the lice but not always.  In fact, about 50 percent won’t have this reaction.

7.  An adult head louse can live up to 30 days.

8.  Contrary to popular belief, head lice do not hop or jump.  They do however move very quickly.

9.  Since head lice need to feed every three to four hours most will die in less than 24 hours once they have been removed from the host.

10.  There are between six and twelve million reported cases of head lice each year in the U.S. in children age 3 to 11.

I’m sure the number of unreported cases would raise that number quite a bit don’t you think?

Schools don’t typically check students often for head lice even though it can be a year round problem.  The best thing to do is to do weekly checks on your childrens heads so if they do come home with lice you’ll be able to catch it early.  There are also products available (shield sprays) to use to deter lice that contain mint which from what I hear they don’t like.

© 2011, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Last week Buggy visited the doctor cause he was just coughing so hard and so much it worried me.  He hadn’t been able to sleep either.  The first thing the nurse noticed was his eye was very red.  Now, I have never experienced pink eye nor have my kids but that is the first thing the doctor noticed too.

Needless to say I felt very dumb as I hadn’t even thought of the possibility of pink eye. Buggy’s eyes get red a lot  and he tends to rub them till he looks like he’s got a black eye.  He doesn’t realize how much pressure he’s putting on his skin around his eyes. But still, like I said I felt really dumb about it. Why didn’t I see this? Why didn’t I know what it was? And was it really pink eye?

Panic set in a bit and I contacted the school nurse to find out what to do.  She suggested I keep Buggy home one more day and like the doctor recommended Visine A (for allergies) just in case it was just allergies.  Have you ever tried to put drops in a child’s eye especially one who to this day can’t stand a drop of water in his eyes from the shower without panicking and a loud hissy fit?  Not fun.  But daddy is really good at helping me out with that one since his eyesight is better than mine.  I didn’t want to miss and have to try a second time. After two days of drops he was back at school and had the nurse check his eye just to be sure.  Fortunately, the Visine A drops did the trick and it was just allergy related. Boy, was I relieved.

But I did go ahead and read up on pink eye just so I know for next time.  These article were shared with me:

The Most Common Eye Infection in the Country

Irritated Eyes? Don’t Brush Them Off

Red, Itchy, Watery Eyes? Sounds Like Pink Eye

Thanks Lisa for the info.

Oh and just an F.Y.I. this was not a sponsored post just an informational one I thought might be of help to some of you.

© 2011, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Allergies, bronchitis and a cold. Yep, the sickies have hit our home.   It started with Princess and a trip to the doctor on Friday. Diagnosis – bronchitis.  She did a seem a little better over weekend and the cough really has subsided which I am extremely grateful for.  It was really starting to hurt.  I’m just making sure she gets her cough medicine on time and that seems to help her feel much better.

Last night after a really fun Saturday, it hit Buggy.  He was up all night with a cough.  Needless to say, mommy was up all night with him too.  He was in no condition to go to school and I certainly wasn’t going to put him through that today.  So he was my buddy or maybe I was his.  He spent most of the day on the couch and when he could he got some much needed rest. I even had a little nap myself.  So, after that much needed nap we were off the doctor’s office once again. This time for Buggy.  I was just dreading what this might be. You know us moms, our minds go crazy and think the worst.  Was it bronchitis too? Was it pneumonia?

Diagnosis – a cold.  But his eye was really red too. I hadn’t even noticed it. Good one mom, huh? That may be allergies (which I’m really hoping it is) or it could be worse and could be pink eye.  Trying to stay positive and hoping it isn’t pink eye.  So off to the store I’ll go to get some Visine to see if that will get rid of the redness, in which case it’s his allergies which are not playing nice right now with his cold.  Here’s hoping we all get a little sleep tonight.  I know we could all use it.

Princess was well enough for school but with Buggy I think I’ll err on the side of caution and keep him home as I don’t want him to get anyone else sick. So many parents send their kids to school sick.  What level of sickness will keep your child home from school?

© 2011, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Do you promise yourself every year that this will be the year you lose that weight?  It’s hard, I know.  Support is very important to keep you motivated to keep you working out and being healthy.  So, that’s why I want to share two really great opportunities I learned about.

Mamavation Moms – Have you heard of it?  Mamavation Moms lose weight in a boot camp type program that you do at home. I know, what you’re thinking, support is great but if I don’t have the equipment to workout and some professional help along the way, I can’t do it.  Mamavation knows you need those things so they provide free fitness equipment, a strong support group and professional resources to help you out in your journey.  You have to apply to be the next Mamavation Mom so click HERE and learn more about the requirements and applying but do it soon as the application deadline is January 5th.

Oh, yes I said two opportunities!

This second one is for Los Angeles moms, if you aren’t one but know an L.A. mom who might be interested please share this information with her.  Mamavation is also on the look out for a mom who will go through a seven week weight loss boot camp and have her entire life recorded.  Moms will do some workouts in special gyms in the greater Los Angeles area and receive several thousands of dollars in products and services.  Doesn’t that sound exciting?  Is it enough to get you motivated and moving?  Learn more about when filming will take place, application guidelines and application at Mamavation.com Deadline is January 10th! So go check it out!

Disclosure: I was compensated to promote these two opportunities but blogging about it was not a requirement.  I just wanted to make sure you knew about the opportunities before they slipped away.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.

Well, we went back to our DAN doctor for the results of the two test kits we’ve sent in so far.  Some good news, it isn’t Candida and his mercury level was within normal limits (actually pretty low) so I was glad to hear that.  Little Bug was also checked for Celiac Disease which she said also came back negative so it isn’t that either.  Also very glad to hear that.  We do still need to get him on a GFCF diet though.  Little Bug apparently has a lot of allergies especially to foods.  Now to figure out what foods he can eat and better yet, how to get him to eat them.

I’m not the best in the kitchen, ok, so I stink in the kitchen/cooking department.  This is going to be a difficult one to overcome but we’ll give it a try.

The doctor says he has a leaky gut.  Now, I’ve heard of this before and I think she’s right on track with this one.  Little Bug has never seemed right when it came to his gut but I could never get any other doctor to even check him.  All I was ever told was, “here, put him on this (as they handed me a prescription)” and when I asked for how long I got this, “for the rest of his life”.  Uh, no! That doesn’t work for me.  So, first things first, we have to get Little Bug’s intestines working correctly and healed before we move much further.  I think the new GFCF diet is a major part of that healing for his body and the enzymes to help his body break down the foods he does take in.  I think the GFCF diet is going to be a more difficult hurdle for me to overcome than it is him though. It’s a whole different way of thinking about food, more work, more preparation, more caution when it comes to eating out or eliminating it all together.

One thing, I though was odd was that Little Bug’s cadmium level was pretty high.  As I read the report and how these levels could be so high, I couldn’t understand how as it seems to mostly relate to cigarette smoke.  We don’t smoke and don’t allow our kids to be around anyone that does.  Hmmm?   Still scratching my head on that one.

Little Bug had more supplements added to his list of daily supplements and I think I’m spending more time giving him supplements than I am at work.  At least, I have the flexibility right now. I hope it keeps up.  And speaking of that, one mom I ran into the other day at school says to me, “he is very lucky to have a mom like you that will do all that for him”, and she doesn’t hardly know me.  That really made me feel good and I needed that.  After this visit, I was just overwhelmed again.  I hope not every visit to this doctor is going to be so overwhelming.

They drew more blood for more testing so as soon as we get those I’ll update you again.  Hopefully it will be good and not require any more supplements.  I don’t know how much more I can put into Little Bug on a daily basis.

© 2010, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.